Dear friends, the new year is ahead of us. As 2021 comes to arrive, incipit is 2022.  I have great optimism for the next and upcoming year. Why? Our philosophy as photographers is to make new, and become new.
Therefore the idea is that this upcoming year, we will make new photos, go on new adventures, become new again.
New Year’s photo ideas
I have some simple New Year’s ideas for us photographers.
The zen of one camera, one lens
The first one is stick to one camera, one lens for this entire year. This could be the camera and lens you already have, your favorite combination. Or it could just be a Ricoh GR 3, which has a non-interchangeable lens.
The best idea is to have a camera lens combination which is pocketable. Or at least small enough to carry with you everywhere you go. This could be a Fujifilm X 100 series camera, a Ricoh GR series camera, and funny enough the new hasselblad XD II digital medium format camera is also quite small. Or it could be your Leica Q-series camera. The most important thing is that your camera becomes part of you, and you never go anywhere without it.
For myself personally, I found the best combination is just have my Ricoh GR 3 in my front right pocket, with my Eric Kim wrist strap mark II.
What is the benefit of sticking to one camera, one lens? It forces you to master your camera, master the technical aspects, and also to master your composition with your one lens focal length.
For example, I stuck with 35 mm as a focal length for almost 8 years, and for the last five years I’ve been sticking to 28 mm. If you’re always changing your focal length, you never really have the opportunity to master one focal length and creative vision.
Try to master one focal length. And once you’ve mastered it, and no longer interests you, then move onto the next one. Typically prime lenses, and wider focal links help facilitate more dynamic and unique compositions.
Stick with one aesthetic for the whole year
Just stick to black and white or color the whole year. I also recommend sticking to one JPEG in camera filter preset.
For example, on the Ricoh GR, you could just use the high contrast black-and-white filter in Camera. And just shoot only JPEG. I also like the cross process color filter on the Ricoh GR camera.
On the Fujifilm cameras, the film simulation JPEG‘s are great. Much better than shooting raw. also shooting JPEG will help facilitate you to have a more streamlined and faster photographic workflow.
Don’t shoot with your iPhone
The funny thing I’ve noticed is that with all my friends who work at Apple, even those who I know associated with the Apple Photos team, it seems that nobody uses their iPhone camera as their primary camera. They prefer to either shoot film, shoot with a Ricoh GR, digital Leica M camera, or use a Sony A series digital camera.
While I do believe in photographic democracy, and I think that iPhone is a great creative tool, I think we would much more benefit from shooting with a standalone digital camera, instead of shooting with our iPhone camera.
Why is that? It is because the aesthetic you get from your standalone digital camera tends to be more satisfying and gratifying than iPhone camera pictures.
Of course, this isn’t true if your iPhone camera is your primary camera and you use some sort of software like VSCO in order to process your pictures.
But anytime you go out and eat, instead of photographing your food with your iPhone camera, just use your standalone digital camera. For example shoot photos of your food with a Ricoh GR in macro mode. 
Start your own website
New year, new opportunity for you to make a website. The biggest benefit of making your own website is that you have the ultimate creative platform and canvas to best leverage your creative assets. You got more control, and options to display your photographic artwork as you please. And this is good!
BOOKS
Some book ideas:
- Make a PDF E-ZINE of your best photos from this year. Make it with Affinity Publisher on Mac, or you can just make it on Keynote and export as PDF, or make as Google Slides and export as PDF. (The Future of Photography is Digital Publishing)
- Make a print ‘zine’ of your best photos, just print it on your own printer at home with the standard letterhead, or just get it printed at the local print shop. Distribute with friends.
- My friend Jun Goodhouse Kim taught me about this ‘free prints photo book‘ and it looks really cool! He made a small printed book of our best photos from Downtown LA and I was very impressed. See more of Jun’s photos here >
- Think AI art: My friend Soren Zhane made this great AI silicon valley artistry article, on how you can leverage AI to make artwork. A great new opportunity for artistic creativity.
- Have fun on Procreate: Download Procreate on iPad or iPhone, and practice sketching, drawing, and just having fun. Any creative act of making something is good!
HAPTIC
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Creative tools to get you going for the new year:
- For the #ricohmafia: ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II // ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II
- For Leica M users, Leica Q users, Fujifilm X-100 series users, Sony A7-users: Henri Neck Strap Mark IV in PHANTOM BLACK or Mahogany Brown.
- FREE: MASTERS VOL 1 DIGITAL // Print
- Creative Everyday DIGITAL // Print
- Street Photography Starter Kit: Master Street Photography on Your Own >
See the HAPTIC SHOP > (We ship worldwide from California)
See all our products on Amazon >
What is on my mind
Things to think about:
- Digital Medium Format: Hasselblad XD II as paving the future.
- BEAUTIFUL > BEST
- Making slideshows as a more efficient way to share photos? Mexico City back home slideshow
- What are the aesthetics and colors of the future?
ARS
Choose your 1 best photo from 2021, and upload it to arsbeta.com
Forward this to a friend! If this sparked any motivation or new ideas in you, feel free to forward to a friend.
ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER SUB LINK >